Human settlements on the territory of modern Alanya have been known since the Late Paleolithic. The first capital buildings known today in the vicinity of the city date back to the eras of the Hittite kingdom and the Achaemenid empire.

 By the beginning of the Hellenistic period, Alanya, then known by the Greek name Korakesion, was already a large and developed city. Entry into the empire of Alexander The Great accelerated the pace of development and expansion.

 During the last centuries BC and the beginning of our era, the city changed hands repeatedly, witnessing the existence and disappearance of several kingdoms. Cilician pirates settled in the port of Korakesion, terrorizing the entire southern coast of Anatolia.

 The expansion of the Roman Republic to the east put an end to the dominance of pirates. The Roman Senate armed Gnaeus Pompey with a fleet of 120,000 soldiers, who cleared all of Mare Nostrum from pirates for almost two months. The decisive battle with the retreating pirates took place before Korakesion in 67 BC. e. Then Mark Antony gave this city and all of Cilicia to Cleopatra, who used the local cedar forests for shipbuilding.

 After the decline of the Roman era, almost a thousand years of the history of the city began as part of Byzantium. The name "Korakesion" was changed to "Kalonoros".

 In the 7th century, the city was repeatedly raided by the Arabs, including several times it was captured. The outdated ancient fortress was rebuilt and significantly strengthened.

 In the 11th century, after the IV Crusade, Kalonoros passed from Byzantium to Armenian Cilicia.

 In the XII-XIII centuries, against the background of the constant struggle between Christians and Muslims who came, the city again constantly changes hands. By the 13th century, the Seljuks finally conquered Kalonoros and renamed it Alaya in honor of the Seljuk sultan Ala ad-Din Kay-Kubad. During the reign of Kei-Kubad, the city reaches its peak. Under him, the Red Tower was built, a significant part of the new fortress (which has survived to this day), a shipyard and several mosques. In 1293-1471 Alaiye was the center of an independent beylik of the Karamanids.

 Due to its proximity to the Seljuk capital of Konya, Alaiye surpassed Antalya as a commercial and military port. At the end of the 15th century, in the transitional era between the Seljuk and Ottoman rule, the city passed to the Ottomans. The warships of the Ottoman conquerors were built at the city shipyards, cruising the Mediterranean.

 During the Ottoman era, Alaiye repeatedly became the scene of naval battles and sieges, was the most important trading port, military base and transit point. With the death of the Ottoman Empire, as a result of the liberation war led by Kemal Ataturk, Alaiye became part of the Turkish Republic.

 In 1935 the city received its modern name - Alanya.

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